Agricultural water use in agrarian economies is often state subsidized for the enhancement of agricultural productivity while poverty alleviation is also targeted. The Indian agricultural dependent states offer representative examples of undervalued irrigation services mainly sourced by canal networks. However, the current inefficient operation of canal irrigation systems diverts water demand to private initiatives by significantly increasing economic value of agricultural water.

Water use and landholding factors are widely acknowledged as major determinants of agricultural development in agrarian regions of the Indo-Gangetic basin (IGB). High attention is mainly given to irrigation policy while land is often apprehended through soil productivity aspects. However, the nexus between land scale and water consumption in respect to the economic implications of agricultural development is poorly elaborated. To this aim, this paper examines the economic effects of water use and landholding scale to farming in agricultural communities of IGB area.

A review of the four main wood energy sectors in the U.S. was conducted to explore historic trends and the impact of alternative energy prices and public policies on wood energy consumption. High oil prices have triggered the adoption of government regulation and financial incentives to promote greater use of wood energy over the last four decades. However, the amount of wood energy consumed in the U.S. industrial sector was driven mainly by the output of the pulp and paper products industry and not by energy prices or any particular public policy incentive.

A hypothetical market for renting and converting forested land into row cropping for biofuel production revealed that nearly half of the 1060 non-industrial landowners sampled in Florida are willing to accept payments for land type conversion and the resulting supply function is inelastic and positive.

Substantial differences in the size of landholdings among cocoa farmers in the Western Region – the last cocoa “frontier” in Ghana – are primarily a result of inheritance practices and the purchase of vast tracts of land by migrants in the initial period of the cocoa boom. Individual accumulation of land over the last decade has mainly taken place via inheritance (among indigenous farmers) without takeovers of land and dispossession of small-scale farmers outside the extended family. Land accumulation among migrant farmers is rare beyond the initial acquisition.

International policies to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) envisage the creation of financial incentive mechanisms that reward forest protection efforts and adequately compensate those actors that face new costs. In order for REDD+ to achieve these objectives, effective benefit sharing systems will need to be implemented. Benefit sharing in REDD+ could take a wide variety of forms depending on the policies used to achieve REDD+ objectives.

This global report examines the opportunity for special economic zones to promote women's economic empowerment and boost zone and enterprise competitiveness in developing countries. The research covers Bangladesh, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, El Salvador, Jordan, Kenya, and the Philippines. The study focuses on women's economic empowerment in the context of zones at three levels: (i) fair employment and working conditions for female employees; (ii) equal access to opportunities for professional advancement; and (iii) investment opportunities for female entrepreneurs.

This report seizes the opportunity to learn from existing evidence by analyzing lessons derived from impact evaluations produced between 2000 and January 2009 to begin to discern what has been effective in agriculture. It is part of a broader effort being undertaken by the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank to understand how impact evaluations can help improve performance and broadly disseminate those lessons.

Land degradation of agricultural areas in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, specifically due to soil salinization, has resulted in significant declines in agricultural productivity. This study builds upon previous limited work on 'Bright Spots' by focusing on specific farming enterprises in the two target countries. The objective of this study was to identify factors that contributed to the enhanced performance of 'Bright Spots' in each of the target countries and based on this evaluation assess possible options for expansion and out-scaling of 'Bright Spots' to larger areas.

Keywords: analytical modelling; Associated Private Nature Reserves; consumptive use; elephants; Kruger National Park; land productivity; non-consumptive use; waterpoints; Savanna ecosystem model; South Africa.

Een van de knelpunten in de biologische landbouw is de continuïteit van de gronden die nu in gebruik zijn. De biologische ondernemers zitten verspreid over het gehele land. Dit betekent een versnippering van areaal. Dit onderzoek tracht inzicht te krijgen op de kansen van alternatieve en duurzame grondconstructies voor de biologische landbouw. Hiertoe is het gesprek aangegaan met landelijke en lokale (pilot gebied Bio Valley Harenkarspel) partijen met grondposities.